MiCA (MiCA)
MiCA, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, is the EU law governing the offer of crypto-assets, their admission to trading, and the provision of crypto-asset services, with one set of rules applying directly across every member state. Service providers are authorized once and can then passport through the bloc.
Also called: Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation
MiCA does two jobs, and it does not do them the same way. It sets rules for offering and issuing crypto-assets — including asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, the categories that cover most stablecoins — and it creates an authorized status for firms providing crypto services to others, the crypto-asset service provider.
Not every issuer goes through an authorization, which is where the shorthand misleads. An issuer of an asset-referenced token must be authorized. An e-money token may be issued only by an authorized credit institution or electronic money institution. Every other crypto-asset is offered on the strength of a crypto-asset white paper notified to the competent authority — a disclosure step, not a license. It is the service providers that MiCA puts through authorization proper.
Because MiCA is a regulation rather than a directive, the text applies across member states without each one writing its own version. Authorization remains national: a firm applies to the competent authority of one member state, and an authorized firm can passport the services it was authorized for into the rest of the bloc rather than applying country by country.
MiCA applied from 30 December 2024, except that the titles covering asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens applied earlier, from 30 June 2024. The transitional regime for firms operating under national law before 30 December 2024 expired across the EU on 1 July 2026, and no grandfathering remains.
Its scope is narrower than the word “crypto” suggests. MiCA covers crypto-assets that are not already regulated under other EU financial law: a token that qualifies as a financial instrument, a deposit or a security stays where it already sits, under the rules that already govern it. Reading MiCA as a complete rulebook for every token is the common mistake.
In practice
MiCA governs the offer of crypto-assets and the provision of crypto-asset services. It does not discharge anti-money-laundering duties, which sit in separate EU law and are supervised separately: crypto-asset service providers are obliged entities under the EU anti-money-laundering framework, and the travel rule has applied to crypto-asset transfers since 30 December 2024. A MiCA authorization is not an AML clearance, and both regimes have to be satisfied at once — that is the position as things stand in September 2026.
Commonly confused with
| Term | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Crypto-Asset Service Provider | CASP is the authorized status; MiCA is the regulation that creates and defines it. |
| Virtual Asset Service Provider | VASP is the FATF term used in AML rules worldwide; CASP is an EU authorization under MiCA, and the two categories do not cover exactly the same activities. |
See also
- Crypto-Asset Service ProviderThe authorization category under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation for firms providing crypto services — custody, exchange, transfer, trading platforms and advice. A crypto-asset service provider is authorized by one member state’s regulator and can then passport across the EU.
- PassportingPassporting is the mechanism by which a firm authorized in one EEA state may provide its services in the other EEA states without seeking separate authorization in each one. The home state regulator continues to supervise the firm throughout.
- Virtual Asset Service ProviderA virtual asset service provider, or VASP, is the FATF category for a business that exchanges, transfers, safekeeps or administers virtual assets for other people, or provides financial services around their issuance. It is an international standard-setter’s term, not a license.
- StablecoinA stablecoin is a crypto-asset designed to hold a steady value against a reference, almost always a fiat currency such as the US dollar. How that steadiness is supported differs sharply from one issuer to the next, and so does what a holder can actually redeem.
Go deeper
Regulatory information checked: 22/Sep/2026